Old Right

The Old Right was an unorganized branch of American conservatism that existed in the early 20th century. The old right favored laissez-faire classical liberalism, social conservatism, and anti-imperialism, and it sought to defend natural inequalities, tradition, limited government, anti-imperialism, and to protect themselves against the growing power of Washington DC. Most members were Republicans, although there was a large faction of Conservative Democrats in the American South. These two factions were allied during the 1930s and 1940s to oppose the New Deal, but the Old Right began to fade after World War II. During the 1950s and 1960s, the rise of Barry Goldwater and the New Right saw the conservative faction of American politics advocate interventionism in the fight against communism overseas. Today, paleoconservatism advocates similar views to the Old Right.